


Honesty, Sincerity...

by Swlfangirl



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Happy Ending, M/M, Reconciliation, Separated!Sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 06:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10588827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swlfangirl/pseuds/Swlfangirl
Summary: Derek meets with Stiles to work out how they're going to divide the life they've built together...Stiles tells him exactly what he wants.It isn't at all what he expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know why or anything but I woke up today with this old country song that I haven't heard in years I might add, playing in my head. Almost immediately there was a craving in my heart to write it so here we go.

Derek grimaces at the decor of the small diner. He doesn’t understand why Stiles insisted on meeting him here instead of a one of the half decent restaurants he could have chosen, but it is what it is. He’s trying to hold himself together but it gets more and more difficult with each passing minute. He glares down at his watch but his eyes are pulled away almost immediately when the bell over the door dings.

 

Stiles walks in wearing the ridiculous red hoodie and an old pair of jeans and Derek’s heart aches at the sight of him. His breath catches in his throat and his mouth dries up instantly. It’s unfair how much better he looks and smells since their separation. Derek hasn’t been able to eat or sleep, he’s exhausted, angry, and hurt and he’s pretty sure every single bit of it is showing on him somewhere.

 

Before he can say anything, not that he really knows what to say; Stiles slides into the seat across from him.

 

“Hey, Derek.”

 

Something inside him breaks at the sound of Stiles’ voice in his ears again and for a moment, he isn’t even sure he can breathe. He’s holding onto it so tightly that he’s afraid to speak, terrified his words will erase the sound of it from his memory.

 

It’s completely quiet for a few beats. The world around them seeming to slow to a halt.

 

Derek remembers a time not too long ago that would have driven Stiles crazy but now he just wears a sad smile and lets it draw out until they’re both suspended in the awkward silence. Derek opens his mouth and then quickly shuts it again. He knows he shouldn’t drag it out any longer, they’re here for a reason after all, but Derek just can’t bring himself to acknowledge it.

 

Finally pulling together what little strength he has left, Derek pulls up the sleeves of his henley and speaks.

 

“Just..just think it over and tell me whatever it is you want, Stiles. Make a list and it’s yours.”

 

The sadness of his smile seems to further bring down his lips but he nods in agreement all the same.

 

Derek thinks about the successes they’ve both had during their last twelve years together. He’s been fortunate enough to have a few of his books on the best seller’s list and Stiles and Lydia’s design studio is one of the hottest new businesses in northern California.

 

Together they’ve invested in themselves, in their future and now they’re here to split it all up.

 

A hollow emptiness starts to form in his gut and Derek is almost hoping if he just sits still and lets it happen, that it might just swallow him whole.

 

Stiles asks the waitress for a pen and paper and she seems much more comfortable with him than she’d been with Derek. Isn’t that always the case though? All these years they’ve spent together and Derek knows without a doubt that he’d have nothing, _be_ _nothing_ without Stiles.

 

The pen scratches against the paper and the table at the same time and Derek starts to think it’s magic, not the good kind either. Stiles has forced him into ABC’s Harry Potter weekends more than a few times. The scene with Umbridge and the cursed pen, is playing vividly in his mind. Stiles used to argue passionately that if given the power, Harris would have been equally awful.

 

With each stroke of the pen Derek feels a scar burning into his heart.

 

“This isn’t easy for me, Derek...but this is what I think I deserve. It’s what I think we both deserve.

 

When Stiles hands over the paper, he’s prepared to see an itemized list of all their possessions and completely unprepared for what is actually written there.

 

**_Honesty, sincerity,_ **

**_Tenderness and trust_ **

**_A little less time_ **

**_For the rest of the world_ **

**_And more for the two of us_ **

**_Kisses each morning,_ **

**_"I love you"s at night_ **

**_Just like it used to be_ **

**_The way life was_ **

**_When you were in love with me_ **

 

The walls Derek has shakily started to rebuild crack open and come tumbling down. He’s barely holding back the tears when he flicks his eyes back up to find the warm honey of Stiles’ shining back at him. A slow vine of hope starts to grow around his heart at what seems to be an opportunity he’s never imagined he would get.

 

“I don’t know where to start,” he says, his words choked off and broken but with promise instead of heartbreak.

 

“All of that, everything I asked for is right here,” Stiles says, reaching across the table to pat at his chest. “I’ve seen it, felt it.”

 

“Stiles, I’m so sorry. I’ll do anything,” Derek offers, overwhelmed by a chance to make things right, to work on fixing their relationship.

 

“I don’t know when we started drifting apart,” Stiles starts, hesitating a little and Derek knows he’s running twenty different ways to say what he wants to say through his mind and he gives him the time to do it.

 

“I know I’ve made some mistakes too but I can’t make this work without you, Der.”

 

“You won’t have to, Stiles. I’ll go to counseling or take some time off work, whatever it is you need from me I’ll give you anything, _everything_ ,” Derek admits, taking Stiles’ hand into his. He rubs his thumb against Stiles’ knuckle, in the way that used to send shivers through his hand. When he feels the slight tremble, Derek smiles brightly for the first time in so long that it feels foreign on his face.

 

“I still love you, Stiles...I never stopped.”

 

Stiles doesn’t say it back, not right away but he grins an old, familiar grin and Derek and asks him if he wants to stay for lunch. He agrees immediately and Derek does everything he can to keep the conversation going until their food is brought out.

 

In that moment with Stiles’ laughter bubbling in the air, Derek thinks that dingy little diner burger might be the best thing he’s ever tasted.

 

If you like country music, the song I based his on is "Honesty" by Rodney Atkins. 

 

Hope you liked it <3   
  
You can find me [here on tumblr](http://swlfangirl.tumblr.com/)


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